THE UNITED PARTY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 November 1928, Page 6

THE UNITED PARTY

s PROPOSALS TO ELECTORS. 5 OUTLINED BY MR MASTERS. t MOTION OF CONFIDENCE ACCORDED. i : ~: - . ' Addressing a crowded audience of ! about Ouu in the Grand Theatre, Has’ wera, last evening, Air R. Masters, of If Stratford, the Dominion .president oif \ the United Political Party, criticised strongly wie Reform Government’s administration and claimed that the pro- ' posate of his party merited the ooaifil dence of the electorate. Tin oughout || his address, ho held the evident sym- ‘ pa thy of the big majority ol has hearers, who demonstrated 1 approval in | frequent outbursts of applause. W’ith- [ out tbissont, the meeting accorded, a. | vote of thanks to Mr Muster® for his r address, togetlier with a pledge of confidence in the leader, Sir Joseph Ward, ./ and the United Party. “I do not know why Mr Masters is 1 not contesting a seat at the /election, j. but lam /sure he will be doing so on j a future occasion,” said the Mayor (Mr fc E. A. Pacey) in extending a welcome', | to Air Masters and formally introduoI ing him to the meeting. Uwing to the | fact that the United Party leader, Sir | Joseph Ward was 'incapacitated with: | eye trouble, Air Masters, as the Do- | minion president, had agreed toi act in | his stead, continued the Aiayor. He | was sure he could bespeak for Air Alasc ters a f air and impartial hearing, t _ Applause greeted 1 AH Alasters, who f introduced his 1 address by saying that ‘ as the president of the United Party 6 lie felt it incumbent on him to move I found the oountry as far as he was | able to explain the aims of the party. Such exposition was being received f with approval, and hs was very pleased ! to note that, despite .ino’ement weather, there were so many people at Hawera having sufficient interest in ’ the political situation to bring them to the meeting. TRIBUTES TO LEADER. “About four to live months ago we r heard al/1 over New Zealand from newspapers and members of Parliament that the United Party would never come to fruition,” continued Air blasters, “but to-day we find that the most virile party standing and undoubtedly the partv which is receiving the great- , est amount of criticism is the United Party of New Zealand. (Applause). “We have no less than 65 candidates standing for scats throughout the Dominion . It was said we had no leader, but we actually have as leader the only statesman and the greatest financial’ in Australasia.” (Applause;. The chief criticism seemed to be that Sir Joseph Ward, who was 75, was too old, but was not Gladstone, the Prime Minister of Great Britain at 84 years of age, Asquith at 70, Bannerman at 72, and Lord Russell at 81 ? Air Alas- : sey was Prime Alinister of New Zea- ‘ land at 73. Was there a. Reformer who would say that had Mr Massey lived' he would have been put out because of his age'? A voice: “Hear, hear.” jt' Air Alasters : “You mean you would?” The voice: “I mean I think you’re ‘ right.” Air Alasters: “I usually am.” • The reception given by 4000 people '• at Auckland and another big gathering 1 at Invercargill .indicated the high ©pin- 1 ion in which he was held. _ * Stating hi? would compare the policies ' of the Reform and the United Parties, 1 Mr Alasters claimed that from the - point of view' of construction, the ’ United Party had the only policy. The c latter dealt definitely with land settlement, finance, railways, taxation, i secondary industries, humanitarian i legislation and) other matters affecting i the welfare of the country. ‘On the s other hand there is not one line of a : oorfstructive nature in the whole of the ] Reform policy,” declared Air Alasters. i To the accompaniment of daughter from . the audience, he likened the Reform ; policy to Irish stew. /‘lt looks ail right on paper, but ‘is nothing but bones and water,” said Air Alasters. MAJORITY REPRESENTATION: The United Party proposed electoral ; reform to ensure that a candidate for ; Parliament could not be returned unless representing the majority of the - particular voters. Air Alasters claimed that the Reform Party, though it had . been in power ior 17 years, had never once received the support of a majority vote, and though there w r ere more people who did not want Air -Coates than those who did, yet he was the Prime Alinister. Seeking to illustrate the contention that the present system allowed the return of a member in a minority vote. Air Alasters -instanced the case of the Eden electorate, which, at the by-election of 1926 returned Air H. G. R. Alason (Labour) with 4559 votes, though a total of 6360 wen? polled hv the two candidates opposing him. A voice : “It does not follow.” ’ Air Masters: “You’ll follow soon.” At the Raglan by-election of 1927 Mr AY. Lee Martin had been elected with 2241 votes, though four candidates oi>-p-o'dng him we re given a total of 3930. The speaker’s reasoning was that there were 3930 people who did not want the successful candidate, yet he got in wit'll tin? support of 2241. Referring to the £60,000,000 loan " proix»sal for fanners and workers, he explained that Sir Joseph Ward proposed to raise the money at 4-£ per cent, at £95. and relend at 4J per cent, with provision for one per cent, sinking fund. A great deal of criticism had been levelled by newspapers and - politicians contending that it was not possible to oarry out the scheme on sound lines. “Alv experience of newspaper editors is that they don’t know much about finance.” declared Air Alasters. “In fact thee could not finance their way out of a sugar bag. Yet they presume to criticise a. great financier Jilc? Sir Joseph Ward.” A voice: “What about the ‘‘Hawera) Star.” Air Alasters: “I don’t propose to deal with the ‘Star’ at present. I may later.” GOING TO BOOAI. The critics of the scheme wen? of exactly the same class who opposed the Sir Joseph Ward's original proposal when he instituted the State Advances Office, and wer? the same class who made comment about a 1 ‘political pawnshop'. ’ ’ When he had been in Parliament, however, the Reform Party’s pride in the State Advances scheme .had made, him wonder whether it was the Reform or -the Liberal administration which had actually instituted it. The present dread of the farmer was the short-dated loan with its excessive renewal costs; but, provided the security was there, Sir Joseph Ward proposed to advance money at 4* per cent, interest, with one per cent, sinking fund, which would repay the whole in 32J years. The Prime Minister had said the policy was one of borrow, boom, and burst. “It is,” continued Air. Masters. A voice: “It is.”

Mr. Masters: “I’ve got him with rne. Yes it Ls_ We are going to bor-

trow; New Zealand is going to boom, •and his party is going to burst.” (Laughter and applause.) The speaker caused further laughter when, in replying to a persistent interjector who seemed to be offering encouragement, Air. Alasters said: “If you’ve got a- home it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go to it. If you haven’t a home you might get one: under this £60,000,000, if you’re lucky.” It was proposed to borrow at the rate of £6,000,000 yearly if required. When the money was loaned to farmers throughout the country their mortgages would be raised and a similar amount would l>e released. It would f become available for investment, but - would be in competition with the 4? [ per cent, money, and the result would f be to reduce the price of money. 1 “GOOD BORROWING.” The United Party had been accused ■ of intention to borrow excessively, 1 but Air. Coates had borrowed eleven, ■ seven/ and eight millions sterling re- ' spectively during the last three years, 1 or at the rate of eight and a half mil- ■ lions a year. J' A voice: “Good borrowing.” . 4 Air. Alasters: “Sir Joseph Ward is a good borrower and a good payer ' also.” A voice: “And he’ll bust.” ’ Air. Alasters: “When Sir Joseph ' Ward left the Coalition Alinistry lie . left it with a surplus of £17,000,000.” /(Applause.) Though Air. Coates had borrowed , £8,000,1)00 last year lie had set aside ! only £890,000 for advances to settlers. . in the 1926-27 year Reform had ad- . vanced £3,566,000 to settlers, and in 1927-28 they had advanced £3,566,000 , to settlers, and in 1927-28 they had , advanced £1,402,000. Where had all the reform money gone, inquired Air. Alasters. A voice: “It’s gone south.” Air. Alasters: “No, it’s gone north.” He read a statement of the Alinister of Finance (the Hon. W. Downie Stewart), in which the latter had stated that with various expensive de-' velopment works great difficulty was being experienced in finding all the money required by members for advances. No less than £3,000,000 was being spent by Air Coates in providing a railway station, yards and shops at Auckland, continued Air. Alasters, but the United Party contended that the first consideration must be t-o provide finance for the farmers. Stating that in that respect he wished to draw attention to the attitude of the member for Patea concerning provision for settlers, Air. Alasters quoted a statement which he said had been made in th© House by Air. Dickie, as reported in another column. “You’re wrong,” called an interjector. “It’s Mr. Dickie’s statement in the House,” replied Air. Alasters. TAXATION PROPOSALS. He referred to .the promise of the Reform Party to place taxation on the shoulders of those best able to bear it, and to the announcement of the Prime Alinister at Stratford that every , promise had been carried out. “There was no more sorry man in Stratforu than Air. Coates when I accepted his invitation to go up to the platform,” said Air. Alasters. “It is significant that though all other speeches were : reported, a report of Air. Coates’ meet- ' iug at Stratford never appeared in 1 the ‘Dominion’ at all.” Air. Alasters said he would read the figures which Air. Coates had refused to read at < Stratford. In, 1918 customs taxation amounted to £5,554,000, and in 1924 it was £8,550,000, whereas for income ; tax the respective figures were £6,200,- ] 000 and £3,272,000. The three millions , had been taken off the income tax i payers, who were most able to bear it, and put on to customs tax payers, who ] were least able to shoulder the bur- j don. In the 1928 Budget Air. Downie Stewart had stated that the income tax on the individual in New Zeaalsd was he lowest in the world. The big squatter, however, was absolutely immune from income tax, continued Air. Alasters. According, to a Press report the Williams family had 219,000 sheep. A sheep could be regarded as returning a profit of £1 a year. . Answering interjections, Air. Alasters said: “Well, then, cut it in half, but you ought to change your breed.” i Allowing 10s a sheep the Williams family would have an income of £109,000 a year, but were exempt from income tax. The: total land tax in New Zealand was £1,154,000, but half of that was paid in the towns and cities, where income tax had also to be paid. AVas it right, he inquired, that the landed interests should be so privileged? He considered they should be made to pay a fair share of the war debt of £72,000,000, and if the United Party was returned to power it would see that such people paid a full and fair share of the taxation. LAND SETTLEMENT. That the Reform Party had no land policy at .all was the contention of Air. Alasters in further criticism of the Government administration. lie claimed that not one thing had been done, with the exception of the Te Wera purchase, in regard to land, settlement. Since 1923 the number of people who had left the land was 13,671, despite an increase of 129,060 in population. AVhere are the extra people? lie inquired. A voice: “Looking for a feed.” Air. Alasters: “Yes, and it cost £IOO,OOO in Auckland alone to provide food and work for unemployed.” / Referring to the Te Wera purchase, Air. Alasters said Air.. AlcLeod had bought second-class sheep country ior £60,000. It had been surveyed for closer settlement, but not .a single application had been received. The Auckland “Herald” had said, “The attempt has not even the merit of being straightforward.” Beading the “Herald” statement, Air. Alasters announced that if that journal knew anything further about the matter it was its duty to inform the public. That class of land, however, was not the kind to open np for closer settlement. What was required were seej tions on which fanners could make a living immediately. He referred to lands in South Taranaki which should be cut up. If the United Party was put in power it would bring about a scheme of land settlement which would relieve unemployment. Last year the railways showed an increase in revenue of £90,060, but increased expense's'of £218,000. Air Alasters claimed that the basis of charges was at fault, and had not been altered for 35 years. The higher priced freights were being taken by the motor traffic! and a resu't the railways were losing three-quarters of a million a. year.

“No country in the Empire except New Zealand placed a tax on the bread of the people, 1 ’ declared Mr Masters. Mr Coates had claimed that bread in New Zealand was no dearer than in Quebec. Australia or Johannesburg, but the United Party was more concerned with the fact that if it was not for the flour tax people in New Zealand could buy bread 2d a. loaf cheaper. Another-result of the Reform Government making a tax of £5 10s a ton on flonr from Australia was that the latter ountry impose n tax of 6cl a pound on New Zealand butter forwarded to Australia,

REASONABLE PROTECTION. The /.speaker would not object to some measure of protection to the Dominion industry provided it was reasonable, ancl was guided by proper principles, but, according to Mr Hawken s statement to the Reform conference in August, as reported in the “Newsletter,” the tax was only to ensure the return to Parliament of some three or four members of the party in the South Island. “It didn’t cost me a penny, hut its going to cost them the election,” replied Air Masters, amid applause, when asked haw much the “Newsletter” had cost him. He characterised the fruit subsidy of £13,000 a® an attempt to buy ©lectors with their own money, and he kept the meeting in laughter as ho proceeded, to ridicule further statements made 1 to the Reform conference by Air Hawken. The United Party proposed to make the insurance cover the whole of medical and hospital expenses, said Mr Alasters during a lengthy criticism of the administration of the ■ workers’ compensation /scheme the incidence of which- in New Zealand, he _ claimed, compared unfavourably with the schemes in operation in Ontario and Queensland. He contended that dissatisfaction was felt right throughout the oountry with the general 1 administration of the Reform/ Government. “The four Taranaki seats are going to be lost to the Government. and the same thing is going to happen right throughout the country,” he continued. Reading a-.list of farm implements subject to 10 .per cent duty on those of British and 35 per cent on those of foreign manufacture. Air. Alasters said the Liberals had never levied such a tax, it being left to Reform to do so. On the same night that thoseduties were imposed the Government had taken off the duty on gramophones. “You’ve got a gramophone government with rotten records.” said Air. Alasters amid further laughter. “YOUNG AIAN OF PROMISE.”

“You have a young man of much promise,” said Air. Alasters when, in conclusion, he appealed for support to Air. J. D. Hislop as the party candidate for Patea. He likened conditions in New Zealand at present to those obtaining in 1890, wiien poverty, unemployment, and depression distressed the land, and it was necessary to open soup kitchens to relieve, privation. It then remained for the four great Liberals, Ballanoe, Seddon, Mackenzie and Ward, to relieve the country of its trouble, and it now remained for the people of the Dominion to give the United Party under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ward the opportunity of repeating that performance. Sustained applause greeted the speaker’s concluding remarks. “As one who has attended practically every political meeting in Hawera for the last 30 years, I must say that this is one of the : best and most inspriting ever held in this town,” said the Aiayor. No questions were asked, though invitations such as “Come on, you Tories!” weT© freely voiced. A motion of thanks to Air. Alasters for his address, with a pledge of confidence in Sir Joseph Ward and the United Party, was proposed by Mr. A. H. Guy, who, after congratulating Air. Alasters on his able and. honest address, deprecated strongly the attitude of the Press towards the United Party. The motion caused. a demonstration of approval, and was seconded by Air. E. Morrissey. No response was given to the Mayor’s inquiry as to whether an amendment was desired. The motion was carried with enthusiastic acclamation and without dissent.

“See you vote for Hislop,” said Air. Alasters in thanking the meeting for its demonstration.